Casimir Effect: End of Solace
Installment of the Casimir Effect series. Introduction On the world of Avalon, the colonists began the celebration of Founding's Day, there most celebrated holiday. Hundreds of thousands of people enjoyed the bright sun and cool breeze of the day, experiencing the festivities and growing closer to one another as a community. In the beginning, this particular Founding's Day was thought of by most colonists as the best one in years. In actuality, it would prove to be the worst. When The Sky Falls... The Founding's Day celebration began in the early morning and was nearing noon -- by that time, the capital of Avalon, Kingstown, was flooded with hundreds of thousands of colonists. The turnout was surprising seeing as how every other Founding's Day for the last five years saw little celebration due to terrorist fears. The fact that all life in the galaxy was nearly annihilated by may have done something to change colonial views -- maybe the colonists had a new lease on life, or maybe they just weren't afraid of anythig anymore. Either way, the Avalon government would be sure to take the necessary precautions to keep everyone safe. Police and volunteers tried to keep as much order as possible on the surface without taking away from the citizen's fun. In both orbit and on the surface, of the 6th Frontier Division oversaw security. The number of tourists increased exponentially during this time of year on Avalon as did the potential for danger. There were many security stations and cruisers in orbit. Aboard the Excalibur-IV Station, John Taylor looked down at the planet through the Command Center's observation bridge. "Ugh, I can't stand space stations," grumbled John to himself. He could hear light foot-steps approaching from behind; he knew those foot-steps from anywhere. "Hey, why the long face," asked Staff Lieutenant Liz Wallace -- John's good friend and comrade-in-arms. "It's nothing. I'm just sick and tired of being stuck dealing with these checkpoints. I'd prefer some fresh air down there on the surface," replied John. It was a shared sentiment among the marines on Excalibur-IV and all of the other stations aswell. A day such as this wasn't to be wasted in somewhere so sterile. John and Liz both looked out into space for a moment and watched the dozens of civilian cruisers soared down beneath Avalon's atmosphere, disappearing beneath the clouds. "Yeah, I understand," said Liz as she continued to watch the passing ships. "This is a job for VI, if anything." "Ha, you took the words right out of my mouth. On my next tour of leave I'm heading to ; all the wide-open space and fresh air that you could ever want there," said Taylor with a grin. Memories of his childhood quickly came flooding back. He could still faintly smell the mint bushes near his house that exuded a sweet aroma. John inhaled, almost forgetting where he was, and was quickly yanked from his daydream by the strong smell of bleach and old office chair cushions. "You should definitely come with me." "Illium's more of my flavor. I'm a bit of a city girl," replied Liz with a smurk. "But who knows, I just might take you up on that." "Commander Taylor," shouted a voice -- It was one of the station hands at a monitor. She had a look of slight worry on her face. John made his way over to the officer and took a look at her monitor. "There's several unregistered FTL ruptures have been read behind Caliburn," said the officer as John began to look ito the monitor. John took a quick look around his surroundings and realized that Captain Malakov -- Commanding Officer of Excalibur-IV -- wasn't in the room. "It's probably some smugglers, not too much of a threat. Have probes en route to that location and they should run scared," ordered John. The officer gave a respectful "aye" and buried her face into the monitor. It wasn't everyday that John gave orders tht didn't have anything to do with the surface. He looked around the Command Center again trying to find Malakov but he was nowhere to be seen. "Malakov's in the CIC. I think he's having a meeting with Admiral Burnes about Sentinel being attacked," said Liz as she approached John. "That's not even that far from here. It's got a few people kinda worried." "Come one, Liz. It wasn't an attack, there was just with how one of the ships had their Drive Cores mounted improperly which caused it to explode and ignite the fueling stations which also burst into flames and blew everything up. Don't be so paranoid," said John, so sure that what was told about the Sentinel incident being an accident was true. "John, you mean to tell me that the largest garrison of Alliance ships in the area being destroyed just days before Founding's Day is a coincidence? I know you aren't that naive," replied Liz in an almost frustrated tone. "Look, if it was an attack I'd think they would've atleast given us a warning. What does brass have to gain from lying to us about something like this," asks John. Suddenly, John hears Captain Malakov call his name from the upper-deck. At this point, John started to feel slightly worried. John made his way up to the CIC, thinking about what Liz said every step of the way. There were some FTL readings barely two minutes ago, maybe that was his warning; John stepped up his pace of walk. As he reached Malakov, he knew that he had to quickly warn Malakov about the potential danger. Just as he was about to speak, however, Malakov interrupted him with his own revelation. "Taylor, we've got bad news," said Malakov. His face was pale and his wrinkles seemed more pronounced than ever before. John's worry quickly rose. "I just got of the comms with Admiral Burnes. He said that he just got word of something bad; the accident at Sentinel wasn't an accident. Someone sabotaged one of the cruisers there and evidence of ballistic impacts was found under debris; Sentinel fell under attack." "It get's worse, sir. Some unidentified FTL signatures were just located near Caliburn. Probes were sent but there's been no word yet," said John. Malakov's left eye twitched when he heard this. He quickly ran over to the communications monitor and sent an immediate emergency message to the COs of each space station and Alliance ship around Avalon. He quickly turned to John. "Taylor, hurry and assemble your squad, now! I'm going to need you on standby!" ordered Malakov. Suddenly, the entirety of Excalibur-IV shook violently. John and Malakov quickly ran to the nearest window and looked out at the devastation; an Alliance cruiser was struck by what seemed to be a torpedo which completely stripped away it's shields. The ship was obliterated when a second torpedo struck the ship directly on it's bridge. John quickly turned from the window and bolted back down to the Command Center. He could see out of the large windows there as a fleet of and cruisers approaching at break-neck speeds. Liz quickly ran up to John with an expression of both shock and "I told you so". John made his way to the nearby elevator and looked back out at her, saying only three words: "you were right." Category:C1v Category:Fan Fiction